Density and temperature profile modifications with electron cyclotron power injection in quiescent double barrier discharges on DIII-D

Abstract

Quiescent double barrier (QDB) conditions often form when an internal transport barrier is created with high-power neutral-beam injection into a quiescent H-mode (QH) plasma. These QH-modes offer an attractive, high-performance operating scenario for burning plasma experiments due to their quasi-stationarity and lack of edge localized modes. Our initial experiments and modelling using ECH/ECCD in QDB shots were designed to control the current profile and, indeed, we have observed a strong dependence on the q-profile when EC-power is used inside the core transport barrier region. While strong electron heating is observed with EC power injection, we also observe a drop in the other core parameters, namely ion temperature and rotation, electron density and impurity concentration. At onset and termination of the EC pulse, dynamically changing conditions are induced that provide a rapid evolution of Te/Ti profiles accessible with 0.3 < (Te/Ti)axis < 0.8 observed in QDB discharges. We are exploring the correlation and effects of observed density profile changes with respect to these time-dependent variations in the temperature ratio. Increases in the measured ion thermal and particle diffusivities inside the barrier region during an ECH pulse correlate with electron heating and a rise in the core Te/Ti ratio as the ion temperature and density profiles flatten with this change in transport. The change in transport is consistent with a destabilization of ITG turbulence as inferred from the reduction of the stability threshold due to the change in Te/Ti.